Method of engraving



I (No Model.)

J. EARLE. METHOD OF ENGRAVING.

No. 277,412. Patented May 8,188?

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WITNESSES UNITED STATES ;ATENT OFFICE.

JOHN EARLE, OF DARBY, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF ENGRAVING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 277,412, dated May 8,188 3.

- Application filed June 16,1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN EARLE, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Darby, in the county of Delaware andState of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Methods of Engraving; and I do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part ofthis specification.

This invention relates to a universal or general spacing line, mark, ordot formed on an engraved pattern-plate, and adapted to be used inspacing letters for engraving with any suitable machine; and it consistsin the method of determining the position of such spacing line or mark,whereby the letters of the alphabet can be combined into words orsentences with perfect spacing and evenness and great simplicity andreadiness, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the annexed drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is a planview of a patternplate provided with spacing-marks. Fig. 2 represents aseries of words illustrating the spacing of the letters composing thesame. Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the manner of determining theposition of a spacing-line for letters, and Fig. 4 represents aspacing-scale.

In carrying out my invention I place a line, mark, or dot on thepattern-plates on each side of every letter of the alphabet. I prefer aline, a, drawn from the top line. of the letters to the upper edge ofthe pattern-plate A, as shown in Fig. 1, said lines being in such aposition in relation to each letter as when the line in the front of anyletter is made to agree or merge with the line at the back of any otherletter of the same alphabet, in engraving the same, perfeet regularityof spacing will be produced on the plate on which the engraving is beingdone in the machine.

The following is a description of my method of finding the true positionof the above-mentioned spacing-line The principle on which the properposition of this line is based is the placing of a tracing of a letter(said tracing being made from a carefully drawn or engraved letter ontransparent paper or other suitable tracing material) on one side of aperpendicular line, (drawn accurately upon a piece of card-hoard orother suitable material,) and then placing the tracing of anotherletteron the other side of said line in such a position that to askilled eye the perpendicular line appears to equallydivide thespacebetween thetwoletters, and then marking on the margin of the paperon which each letter is traced the position of the perpendicular lineseen through the overlapping paper. This mark will ,indicate theposition of the true spacing line for the two letters used, and will beso marked on the pattern-plate, the one being on the right and the otheron the left of each respective letter. I now remove one of the letters(either the one on the right or left of the perpendicular line, leavingthe remaining one in its proper posi-' tion) and place another tracingin such a position that the perpendicular line will equally divide thespace between it and the first letter laid down, and then mark the line(seen through the paper as before) on this letter, and so on through thewhole alphabet. After all the letters are provided with marks or lines Ion one side the process is reversed-that is, the letter which hasremained stationary during the before-mentioned process is removed andanother placed in position to be marked, one of the previously-markedletters remaining on the opposite side of the line as a gage, and so onuntil every letter of the alphabet has a gage or spacing-line on bothsides of it. The lines, marks, or dots the true position of which isthus determined are then placed on the engraved pattern-plate.

The perpendicular line above referred to is indicated in Fig. 3 by theletter b, and is preferably drawn from a base-line, 0. These lines D and0 may be drawn upon a piece of card-board or other suitable material.The

trial-letters are traced from any accurate pattern upon detached piecesd of transparent paper or other suitable tracing material. Thesedetached tracings are laid upon the card-board so as to overlap the lineb, the lower edges of the letters corresponding with the base-line c,

and in such a position that to a skilled eye the line b will appear toequally divide the space between the letters. this position may beverified, if desired, by the use of compasses or other means. The posi-The accuracy of ble at the end of the machine.

tion of theperpendicular line b as seen through the tracing-papers isthen marked upon each paper, the mark made upon one paper being on thefront of the letter, while on the other paper it will be at the back ofthe letter. Either letter is now removed, leaving the other in itsproper position, and another letter being placed in such position thatthe perpendicular: line b will equally divide thespace betweenit and thefirst or gage letter. This newly-selected letter is itself marked andremoved, another being substituted therefor, and so on until all theletters of the alphabet have been provided with spacing-lines on eachside, the process being reversed at the proper time, as beforedescribed.

All styles of letters and numerals can by this method be made to spacewith one another, each letter having but two lines, marks,

or dots, one on each side of it. It is obvious that this method may beapplied by typefounders to determine the position of the sides of thetype in relation to the letters. It will be seen by reference to theword Washinga ton, Fig. 2, that by this method letters will space aswell backward as forward.

In practicing this invention with an en graving-machine such as that forwhich I have obtained Letters Patent No. 260,463, dated July 4, 1882, Istretch a blank ribbon of paper upon a straight-edge secured to the ta-Let it be supposed that I am now about to engrave the word Washington ona plate lying on the circular bed of the machine. For this pur I firsttake a pattern-plate having upon it the pattern letter \V, and securesaid plate firmly in contact with the straight-edge above referred to,at any point along the same. Now, with a pantographic tracing-point Iproceed to follow through the lines of the pattern-letter W, the diamondengraving-point on the other arm of the pantograph being thus caused tomake a facsimile of the letter on a plate resting on the bed of themachine. This letter being thus engraved, I register the spacingline forthe next letter of the word by simply continuing upon the ribbon orpaper strip the spacing-line at the front of the first letter, thepattern-plate of which is then removed and one substituted thereforhaving 011 it the next letter required to form the desired word. Thisnewly-selected plate is secured in contact with the straight-edge insuch position that the spacing-line at the back of the second letterwill agree with the line just drawn on the paper ribbon or strip, sothat should the spacing-line at the back of the secondletter be alsocarried upon the paperitwould mergewith the'lineor mark drawn from thespacingline at the front of the first letter employed, this secondletter being traced in the same manner as the preceding one, thuscausing the second letter of the word to be engraved upon the platecarried by the machine-bed. As before described, the

spacing-line at the front of the letter is carried up on the paperstrip, as before, thus giving theposition for the next letter, and soon. In practice I prefer to lay out upon the paper ribbon all thespacing-lines for the matter I wish to engrave before stretching theribbon or strip on the straight-edge. This may be done from a scale, or,in other words, a plate containing a duplicate of all the spacing-linesof all the letters of the alphabet in a compact form, one of thesescales or plates being used with great advantagefor each style ofalphabet'employed in engraving. This scale, Fig. 4, contains simply thelimit-lines, indicating the width or space occupied by each letter; andas it frequently happens that several letters of the alphabet willoccupy equal spaces, it will be seen that the same limit-lines can beused for such letters, and may, if desired, be so marked on the scale.The scale B, having such limit-lines, which are the spacing-linespreviously ascertained by means of the tracin gs, as before described,is used in laying out work upon the paper strip or ribbon that isattached to the straight-edge.

Instead of engraving several letters on a pattern-plate, together withspacing-lines, as shown in Fig. 1, I may have a separate plate for eachletter, and may cut off the plate at the points indicated by thespacing-lines, and so use the two perpendicular sides or edges of theplate in lieu of the spacing lines, marks, or dots, as before described.It will be seen that by placing two of such plates in contact, theplates having their respective letters engraved thereon with properrelation to their sides or edges, as before ascertained, the letterswill be caused to space accurately in the same manner as that alreadydescribed, the several plates, each containing a single letter, beingplaced in contact with the straight-edge and with each other in a mannersimilar to that in which type are set.

Vhile the principle of my invention is clearly illustrated by theemployment of the perpendicular line b in the manner before described, Ihave found in practice that two letters of suitable or convenientform-such as the letters H I--may be arranged as shown in Fig. 3, andthe space separating said letters he used as a gage, from which theother letters of the alphabet may be accurately spaced, or provided withspacing marks or demarkations, as already mentioned. Any letters of thealphabet may be used for this purpose in place of the letters H I but Iprefer letters having one or more perpendicular lines or sides, orletters resembling each other in their strokes. In spacing letters bymeans of the gage-space 0 between such letters it is only necessary toplace a tracing of each letter in succession in such position withrelation to either .of the letters bounding the gage-space e that thespace between the letter last laid down and the adjacent gage-letterwill appear to a skilled eye to be uniform or equal with the gage-spacee. The tracing is then marked to correspond or agree with a fixed pointor line having a.predetermined relation to the letters bounding thegage-space. correspond with the position of the line b, or may belocated at any convenient distance to the right or left thereof. Thespace 6, instead of being bounded by letters, as shown in Fig. 3, may bebounded by any arbitrary lines suitably arranged to assist inaccomplishing the desired object.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The herein-described method of deterappear to a skilled eye to beequal to the gagespace, then marking the tracings at the front Thisfixed point or line may I or back of the letter with a line, mark, ordot corresponding with a' fixed point or line having a predeterminedrelation to the letters or z 5 lines bounding the gage-space, and-finally transferring the spacing-lines from the traein gs to theengraved pattern-plate, substantially as described.

2. An engraved pattern-plate in which each pattern-letter is providedwith spacing lines, marks, or dots so arranged in relation to eachletter that by merging the spacing-line of any pattern-letter with thespacing-line of the letter last engraved the said letters will beaccurately spaced to form words and sentences, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN EARLE. Witnesses:

PHILIP MAURO, A. R. BROWN.

